Papers (Part 1)

• Ethnic Identity with Language Rights in Burma: From the Viewpoints of Pluralism and Unity in Diversity Moe Kathy Karen Information Center

  Burma is the country of many ethnic nationalities living together such as Kachin, Kayah, Karen, Shan, Mon, Rakhine, Burma, Chin, etc. Barmar nationality is the majority and the other ethnic groups are minorities. Each of these ethnic nationalities has different culture, literature, language and wearing style, and traditions. All ethnic people would like to live peacefully in their respective places. In history, political factors forced language policy, which has severely affected o the ethnic identities and caused grievances in the mind of ethnic people as they are not allowed to study in their mother tongues at public schools. At the current situation, Burmese, the language of the ethnic majority group, is the only official language in the country. Other ethnic languages are not recognized as the means of instruction at school. That’s why the new generation of the ethnic minority groups cannot read and write in their own languages. They lack opportunities and a facilitating environment to use their mother tongues to communicate in their communities, school lives and at work. If each ethnic group has equal rights to confidently and openly promote their original identity, practice their traditions and customs, there will be a natural course to respect diversity, reduce inequality, and promote peaceful co-existence. Only through the availability of such an environment, as well as enforcement of legal foundations to strengthen multiethnic society, the nation can be transformed to, in one day, a country with unity in diversity consisting of different ethnic groups regardless of majority or minority.

• Myanmar’s Prospects for Democracy in a Post-Military State Yatana Yamahata School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

  Myanmar’s recent regime change, after more than a half-century of military rule, has sparked debates on its transition towards democracy. The debates are mainly centered on major challenges starting from a fragile peace process between the military and ethnic armed groups in the nation’s resource-rich borderlands; a potential communal violence and worsening tensions in the Rakhine state; a growing anti-Muslim sentiment; rising negative perceptions of non-Burman and non-Buddhist groups; ecological problems and environmental disasters caused by China’s investment-driven energy, infrastructure and development projects; and the deadlock legislative issue on the 2008 Constitution and its related political implications among many others. It is safe to state that the march towards a democratic transition is a long way to go. Since changes in Myanmar will not happen overnight, an appropriate balance of internal pillars driving for genuine change and international support can effectively shorten the journey of a confused transition towards stable democracy. However, this research explores that Myanmar’s road to democracy is unlikely to be linear; its military remains deeply entrenched in the political, economic and social aspects of the Myanmar state and society. Even with these realities, Myanmar can still benefit from many applicable lessons proven throughout the process of East Asian democratization processes including Japan as well as other Southeast Asian cases from two dimensions –neutralizing military institutionalization and deepening democratization. This paper aims to discuss the following questions.

  • Is Myanmar undergoing a democratic transition?
  • Why has military rule been entrenched in Myanmar?
  • Why is there no longer a need for the direct military rule?
  • What are the prospects for democracy in Myanmar?
  • What can Myanmar learn from Indonesia’s model of democracy? East Asian models of democracy including Japan?
• Understanding Women’s Political Participation in Myanmar: Attitudes, Barriers and Challenges Sar Yar Poine Mon Women’s Organization

  This chapter looks into the key concepts in the topic of perceptions regarding the participation and representation of young women with a special reference attached to Mon women, in political parties in Mon state, Myanmar. The first section discusses the general attitudes as well as trends of women in politics by referring to the recent research on women in politics. The second section highlights women’s political participation from different perspectives and opinions in terms of participation and representation including the types and level. Finally, the discussion centers on the barriers to women’s participation in politics and it will also demonstrate the diverse challenges that young women face to be able to participate in politics. This research also aims to highlight perceptions of young women’s political participation today in implications towards the issues relevant to development studies.

Papers (Part 2)

• Press Freedom Under the New Government of Aung San Suu Kyi: The First Five Years and Beyond Yoshikazu Mikami Mejiro University

  Burma/Myanmar was under the military rule for over 50 years and the press freedom was strictly under the control of the government. But since the Thein Sein government took charge in 2011, major changes had taken place: the government censorship board was abolished in August 2012 and in April 2013, private newspapers were allowed to publish for the first time in five decades. Myanmar’s media experienced the freedom that was denied for so long and new newspapers, magazines and internet media flourished.

  Once the new Aung San Suu Kyi government was inaugurated in 2016, there was a strong hope that the press freedom will be further enhanced. But in reality, the media is facing many challenges and the arrests and imprisonments of journalists still continue to this day. Moreover, the situation has become more complicated, especially with the rise of problems of Rohingya refugees. Two Reuters journalists were charged under The Official Secrets Act when they were working on stories about Rohingya Muslims; they were arrested for allegedly possessing state secrets and spent 18 months in prison until their release on May 7, 2019. Activists and journalists in and outside of Myanmar accused the new government of failing to protect press freedom which is vital for democracy to prosper and endure.

  To be fair, it is important to understand that Aung San Suu Kyi’s political power base is not as strong as one would imagine; the military still wields strong power in Myanmar politics. It is also undeniable that the country has made huge progress in promoting freedom of the speech. But despite these facts, international (Western) media has criticized Aung San Suu Kyi for not doing enough and voicing her concern. But what are the impediments for the press freedom to flourish in Myanmar? Why it is still restricted despite the fact that many people had hoped for further relaxations? This paper aims not to criticize the current government but to gauge the nature and the problems facing the press freedom during the first 5 years of the NLD government and to make some suggestions for more open press freedom.

• Shaping Federalism through Identity: Resurgence of Identity Politics in Smaller Ethnic Minority Areas of Myanmar Myat The Thitsar Enlightened Myanmar Research Foundation

  Myanmar’s ethnic minorities, both larger and smaller minorities, had limited space to promote their identity under different eras of authoritarian regimes from one-party socialist regime to military regimes. However, in recent years of political transition and decentralization, different ethnic areas of Myanmar have seen as a resurgence of identity politics. Importantly, this paper explores the emerging efforts of identity formation and separation by smaller ethnic groups, which are mainly resided in the larger dominant ethnic area or multi-ethnic regions and previously played a subtle role in ethnic politics. These efforts have taken clear patterns in light of federal dreams which are fiercer in ethnic regions after Aung San Su Kyi’s government came into power in 2016. The study looks at five different areas of smaller ethnic groups including PaO, Da Nu, Ta-ang (Palaung), Naga and Shan-ni (Tai-Lai Shan). The study explores different approaches that these ethnic groups have been using in their efforts of constructing, reinforcing and separating identity- in different areas covering from customary justice, language, culture and religions and history to some extreme cases of building military capability and confrontation. Secondly, the study examines the structural pitfalls of the current state-led federal state-building process and the historical National Convention, where six self-administered areas were decided to set up through undemocratic procedures. These pitfalls created by both undemocratic and democratic rulers of the countries are revealed by the study as significant attributes to growing uncertainties insecurities among ethnic minorities groups. Based on the findings, the study argues that through identity formation, reinforcing and separation, the smaller ethnic groups have been shaping federalism which would render a secured position in which they can make as better compromises as possible with larger dominant ethnic groups. Finally, the paper concludes that the federal state building in Myanmar needs to have absolutely new approaches for all stakeholders. The most important of all is a profound change in understanding the current ethnic power dynamic which, in fact, is quite different from that of the “Panglong” in the pre-independent era, and that reality has been calling for a radical change toward an inclusive federal state-building process.

• Unknown Woman 07: The Role of Female Artists in Myanmar’s Transitional Context Catherine Renshaw Australian Catholic University

  This paper examines the role and contribution of female artists to socio-political recalibration in Myanmar’s transition towards democracy. First, the paper explains that in transitional contexts, art practices can provide important unofficial counterparts for truth-finding, reconciliation, civic repair, psychological reparation and other mechanisms of transitional justice. Next, the paper recounts the details of a particular event which came to symbolize, for many in Myanmar, the suffering and oppression of ethnic women in areas under military control. The event is the rape and murder of Maran Lu Ra and Tangbau Hkawn Nan Tsin, which took place in January 2015 in a small village in Shan state. Third, the paper analyses and explains the artistic response of contemporary Myanmar performance artist Zoncy to the deaths of Ra and Tsin. Zoncy’s ‘applied performance art’, such as Unknown Women 07, seeks to commemorate the deaths of Ra and Tsin and stimulate awareness of the need for justice and accountability for women in the transitoinal process. Against the backdrop of increasing academic attention to the field or art and transitional justice (Bell and Di Paolantonio 2009; Lenta 2010; Lipscomb 2010; Bahun 2015) this paper seeks to show how art has the potential to speak to the commensurabilities and disparities between the general reading of the rule of law and its multiple local perceptions in particular transitional contexts, and the external and the internal practices in place to promote legality in a given community.

• Women’s Grassroots Initiatives on Multilingual Education for Promoting Peace Culture: A Social Identity Perspective Chosein Yamahata Aichi Gakuin University Makiko Takeda Aichi Gakuin University

  Language, culture, and identity are inextricably connected to each other. Since language is an important component of culture, which consists of a set of shared values and beliefs with others, it has a direct impact on social identity. Therefore, language suppression not only results in the poor academic achievements of children but also bruises their self-esteem, provoking strong negative emotions and creating and widening social division. Violent group mobilization is likely to occur when a group of people has serious grievances along the line of their shared identity that is significant and influential in shaping their behavior and well-being. However, thus far, language policy has been discussed in terms of the linguistic and cultural rights of ethnic minorities, focusing on Mother Tongue-Based education, but not in relation to peace process in Myanmar, although the research revealed that there is a direct correlation between conflict and the feeling toward the language and curriculum children are taught. In addition, since women have an innate talent for peacebuilding and conflict transformation (Porter, 2007; Thornton & Whitman 2013), which can also have positive effects on bridging division, ethnic women who were one of the most marginalized in society, are the main agents of this research to see how women can contribute to the community.

  This paper aims to highlight the importance of multilingual education and women’s contribution to Myanmar, where society is deeply divided. First, ethnic issues are reviewed in order to give insight into the situation of social division. Then, the benefits of multilingual education are explored, especially in terms of its social aspects. Thereafter, the prospects for multilingual education by women’s grassroots’ initiatives are discussed in relation to its potential to change children’s perceptions of different cultures. It is hoped that multilingual education could lay the foundations of a pluralist democracy and peace culture, which is only possible through the realization of a harmonious Myanmar.

Abstract

Keywords

• Democracy
• Development
• Feminism
• Gender
• Myanmar
• Politics